New York updates state energy storage goal to 3 GW by 2030

Governor Andrew M. Cuomo announced that the New York State Public Service Commission approved two initiatives to dramatically increase New York’s energy efficiency and energy storage targets to combat climate change. The new energy efficiency target for investor-owned utilities will more than double utility energy efficiency progress by 2025, reducing the state’s energy consumption by the equivalent of fueling and powering 1.8 million homes. The energy storage initiative sets New York on a trajectory to achieve 1,500 MW of storage by 2025, enough electricity to power 1.2 million homes, and up to 3,000 MW by 2030. First announced as part of the Governor’s 2018 State of the State clean energy agenda, these energy efficiency and energy storage targets are vital to meeting New York’s clean energy goals.

“As the federal government continues to ignore the real and imminent dangers of climate change, New York is aggressively pursuing clean energy alternatives to protect our environment and conserve resources,” Governor Cuomo said. “These unprecedented energy efficiency and energy storage targets will set a standard for the rest of the nation to follow, while supporting and creating jobs in these cutting-edge renewable industries.”

In June, Governor Cuomo announced the state’s plan to jumpstart the development of energy storage in New York, calling for the deployment of 1,500 MW of energy storage by 2025, or enough electricity for 1.2 million average sized homes, while avoiding more than one million tons of carbon pollution.

To achieve the Governor’s goal, the Commission this week adopted a comprehensive strategy to address barriers that have been impeding energy storage technologies from competing in the energy marketplace. These actions are intended to accelerate the market learning curve, drive down costs, and speed the deployment of the highest-value energy storage projects for maximum benefit to New Yorkers and the electric grid.

In addition to the 2025 goal, a secondary energy storage deployment goal of 3,000 MW for 2030 is being adopted, which was called for pursuant to legislation signed into law last year by Governor Cuomo. When implemented, the strategy adopted by the Commission today will establish a critical foundation for the emergence of this clean-tech industry across the state and support New York’s goal to create 30,000 jobs in this industry.

To further stimulate energy storage deployment across the state and spur private sector investment, earlier this week, New York Power Authority (NYPA) announced it will invest $250 million over the next five years to accelerate the flexibility of the electric grid to give New Yorkers greater access to renewable energy resources such as wind and solar power. This multi-pronged, collaborative effort by NYPA will harness the abilities of third-party providers to address key market and financial barriers, and accelerate implementation of 150 MW of grid flexibility projects and decrease market risk.

Both Commission actions are the result of extensive public outreach, numerous public hearings, regional forums, active stakeholder engagement, and public comment review.

The Commission order also:

Authorizes a $310 million market acceleration bridge incentive to be administered by NYSERDA, in addition to $40 million announced in November for pairing storage with PV projects, and directs NYSERDA to file a market acceleration bridge incentive implementation plan; and

Directs the State’s six major electric utilities to hold competitive procurements for 350 MW of bulk-sited energy storage systems.

As more renewable energy resources are brought online, energy storage will enhance efficiency of the electric grid to better integrate these variable resources. Importantly, energy storage will also enable these resources to meet periods of peak demand. Achieving the 2025 energy storage target will produce $2 billion in gross lifetime benefits to New Yorkers by reducing the reliance on costly, dirty and inefficient energy infrastructure, while also helping to scale up the clean energy industry.

According to a recent report by the American Jobs Project, New York is home to nearly 100 energy storage companies with expertise in hardware manufacturing, advanced materials, software development, and project management, and ranks fifth in the nation for energy storage patents due to the depth of research across its universities, national lab, and businesses.

“New York State is leading the way by setting this bold target for energy storage. The target was developed through a robust and open stakeholder process, and was supported by strong economic modeling,” said Kelly Speakes-Backman, CEO of the Energy Storage Association. “The state’s actions will generate an important, long-term signal to the storage industry to invest and hire in New York, and can serve as a model for the rest of the nation.”